Aisyiyah and The Problem of Women's Social Movement in Indonesia: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

This paper focuses on the social movements that Aisyiyah performed to improve people's lives by consolidating family institutions. Since its establishment in 1917, Aisyiyah emphasizes the big idea of making the family a primary purpose to engage in an organization. In Indonesian historiography, there is no women’s social organization with firm power on the grassroots, focusing on the family as what Aisyiyah has done. With that power, Aisyiyah was swiftly expedient in responding to family issues and accumulating more strength in overcoming future problems. The establishment of kindergarten in large numbers in such a short time was one way for Aisyiyah to solve social issues. It was not a surprise that in 10 years (1917-1927), Aisyiyah gained 11,000 members scattered across various regions of Indonesia and increased continually throughout different political periods. Indeed, this is a significant social movement, because as an organization catered for Muslim women, Aisyiyah can fundamentally life-changing for many people. Unfortunately, Aisyiyah, as a social movement, has not yet received complete attention within the Indonesian historiography. With this in mind, this paper then attempts to observe the social movement projected by Aisyiyah and identify the loss of the narrative of Muslim women in Indonesian history.